I pulled one of my hands out from beneath my thighs and swiped my hair away from my face. “In hindsight, I wish I’d handled things differently, but I was still a teenager, and I was suddenly in charge of four children. I did the best I could at the time, and I’m sorry for hurting you. I’ve always regretted that. I went about things wrong, and I’ve been sorry for it ever since.”

When I stopped talking, Liam seemed to be processing my words. I stayed quiet, even if it was killing me not to know what he was thinking. Eventually, he seemed to arrive at a conclusion.

“I can’t imagine how lost and alone you must have felt,” he said slowly and carefully. “But you shouldn’t have made the decision for me. You should have given me the opportunity to decide for myself what I wanted to do. If I’d gone over there to be with you and ended up unhappy, that would have been on my shoulders, not yours.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I meant well. I thought I was saving you from a life you wouldn’t want, and if I’m completely honest, I was also saving myself the heartbreak I’d have experienced if you decided I wasn’t worth it.”

“I get it.” He sounded resigned but not angry. “You were young and overwhelmed, and couldn’t see a way out.”

“Yes,” I said, relieved he’d managed to sum up so many mixed emotions with one sentence. “I took the route I thought would be best for you and least complicated for me, but I was wrong.”

His hand landed on my knee, the warmth of his palm soaking through the fabric and defrosting my cold soul. I felt like I’d been numb for so long, and tingles of sensation were finally returning.

“This was years ago. What made you come back?”

“A friend of mine asked when I was last happy, and it got me thinking.” I was quiet for a moment, trying to determine how best to express the fact that while I’d had moments of happiness—some of which I’d never give up for anything—I hadn’t been content with myself since I’d been in Destiny Falls. “The last time I could remember being completely at peace, without worries dragging me down and without feeling like I had to play a part for someone else’s benefit, was when I was here. With you. So I came back.”

I was almost afraid to look at him. I’d opened up so much, and I wasn’t sure how he’d react. He’d been good so far, but I wasn’t used to making myself so vulnerable.

“Wow. That’s… wow.” He glanced at me. “You’ve had a crazy eleven years.”

“Yeah.”